More Women Than Men Die From COPD

Dec. 14, 2007 -- The lung disease known as chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) has long been considered more a man's disease
than a woman's disease. Nothing is farther from the truth, according to a new
review.

"COPD is a huge problem in women," says MeiLan Han, MD, MS, an
assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Health System,
Ann Arbor, and director of its Women's Respiratory Health Clinic. She is the
lead author of a clinical commentary on the topic of gender and COPD published
in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine.

COPD in women has been on the rise in recent years. More women than men in
the U.S. now die from it each year, she says. Even so, experts have much to
learn about the gender bias surrounding COPD, she says. Doctors may not always
think to give a woman with COPD symptoms the breathing function tests used to help
diagnose it early.

What Is COPD?

COPD is the preferred name for what used to be looked on as two different
diseases -- emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking cigarettes is the main risk factor for getting
the disease. In emphysema, the tiny air sacs in the lung (called alveoli) are
irreversibly damaged. In chronic bronchitis, the bronchial tubes are inflamed
and eventually scar. COPD is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S.

According to the American Lung Association 61,000 women and 57,260 men died
of the disease in 2004; about 12 million adults in the U.S. have COPD. Symptoms
include a chronic cough, shortness of breath, frequent clearing of the
throat, and increased production of mucus.

Medications can help relax and open air passages. Other
treatment includes supplementary oxygen therapy.

COPD: Men vs. Women

Han and her colleagues reviewed numerous scientific published studies to
write the commentary, trying to piece together the current understanding of how
COPD affects men and women differently -- and what questions yet need to be
addressed.

Sex differences in COPD have been suspected for about 20 years, she says,
but experts haven't investigated the information very thoroughly until
recently. Women's increased use of tobacco probably explains part of the rise
in the disease, Han says, but not all.